Zhejiang Expands Pharmaceutical IndustryThe pharmaceutical industry in east China's Zhejiang Province has witnessed steady growth. Statistics show that investment in the industry rose from 425 million yuan (about 51.3 million US dollars) during the 1986-1990 period to 1.228 billion yuan during the 1991-95 period; and it is expected to reach three billion yuan in the 1996-2000 period.Zhejiang has 204 pharmaceutical enterprises, including 93 drug producers and 37 medical instrument and apparatus makers. Since 1996, the province has developed 546 new drugs. The gross output value of Zhejiang's pharmaceutical industry came to 25.6 billion yuan in 1999, up 28.12 percent from the previous year. The output value of chemical drugs totaled 18.55 billion yuan, up 28.41 percent; that of medical instruments and apparatuses amounted to 4.01 billion yuan, up 24.13 percent. The proportion of its output value in the country's total rose by 1.5 percentage points from 11.7 percent in 1998 to 13.2 percent in 1999. The industrial sales value came to 13.8 billion yuan in 1999, up 22.9 percent over 1998; the sales/production ratio reached 96. 88 percent, three percentage points higher than in the previous year; and products delivered for export were valued at 3.8 billion yuan, up 27.53 percent. Zhejiang Province has more than 70 overseas-funded enterprises in the pharmaceutical industry, and plans to use 61.38 million US dollars of foreign investment this year, the same as last year. The utilization of foreign investment this year will focus on the transformation of traditional industries, the expansion of existing joint ventures and joint venture chain operations. |
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